AP.net Contest: Strung Out Volume One Giveaway

Strung Out's Volume One box set is released through Fat Wreck Chords today and to celebrate we're teaming up with the label to give away a Crash cymbal signed by the band, a Volume One CD box set and a poster. To win all you have to do is leave a post in the replies stating your favourite song by the band. One winner will be notified in two weeks through a PM on the website.

As a 31 yr old, the first punk album I was ever exposed to was in Freshman year of high school in 1998, Strung Out -Twisted By Design.

I was turned onto them by my late Uncle Trini who played in various bands inspired by Black Flag and Adolescents. From the first time I heard the opening chord from Too Close To See I was hooked, it was like having sex for the first time, I had no idea what I was in for, but I knew that I liked it immensely, and didn't want it to end any time soon!

The riffs, the melody, the passion, the honesty in Jason's vocals and the truth in the lyrics is what has always set Strung Out apart from many other bands, they've made a sound perfectly their own. The lyrics "some times you get too close to see, a different side of what life could be...and if you stare too long it all becomes a blur and its easy to forget just who we are,don't stare to hard, just take a look around" are words that I myself have strived to live by,

Strung Out has been a catalyst for me since the age of 15...because of Strung Out, I was opened up to so many different punk and hxc bands, and in doing so, even turned my 10 yr old daughter Kylie into a Strung Out fan (by the way, her favorite song is Solitaire).

I have so much respect and admiration for the guys in Strung Out for continuing to release quality albums year in and year out, and I'm certainly looking forward to the new album in the next few months! That's my story, Strung Out - Too Close To See, from snot nosed rail thin 15 yr old Freshman to a 31 yr old Cool Ass Dad, that song, this band, will forever be a part of me!

There are far too many songs to choose from, but Ultimate Devotion is one of the greatest love songs ever written. Any song that can get a 15 year old kid unknowingly singing along to a song about sodomy is a winner in my books.

What a tough question, there have been so many over the years. My love for them began the first time I heard "Ultimate Devotion" on physical fatness what must have been about 15 years ago. There was something so raw and immediate about the way that they played their music and expressed their ideas.....its like the world was about to implode and they knew they only had 2 and a half minutes to get their last thoughts out into the world. Twisted by design was the album that I really fell in love with and their follow up "An American Paradox" continued to expand my love of theirs.

However, the one song that I always come back to, the one song that I sing to my 6 month old son almost weekly is "Your Worst Mistake". I still remember the first time I heard it and it blew my mind. I had never heard of a punk rock song treat rhythm and intensity in that manner. The way jason uses not only dynamics in his delivery but timing of his vocals still to this day blows my mind. "Once again, i've done my job, of pushing you away, its the rise and fall, beginning and the end of another day". No one since that day has used that much emphasis to envoke such emotion in a beautiful ebb and flow rhythm style like Jason does in this song. When he sings "The weight of the world, is all i ever have to give"; it is sung with such conviction that I still get a lump in my throat to this very day and this is why I sing it to my son; I want him to grow up with music that actually means something. But not just Jasons contribution; the whole track. The epic guitar riff, the pounding drums from Jordan; it to me is a perfect song! So this is my pick! Here is to another 20 years of punk rock!